Joseph Mattera tries to break down the top 10 things COVID revealed abut the church...and he just misses it.

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Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. - 2Timothy 3:12-17 (ESV)

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In his defense, Joseph Mattera has always seemed to sincerely try. There are some people in this game we call churchianity for the money. For others it is for the power or the fame. Being in the hierarchy of a billion-dollar global enterprise can be quite enticing for the ego. For some however, like Mattera, it just seems like he cannot see his own heresy. He is unapologetically Charismaniacal. Note I am not saying Charismatic, which is entirely biblical. It is the Charismaniacs who sully the notion of the gifts of the spirit being for today by falsely manifesting them. Secondly and most important, Mattera cannot see how being a part of the dominionist camp of the New Apostolic Reformation is wildly unbiblical. When I think of people like Mattera I always am brought back to the key verses for today which find Paul teaching his prote'ge' Timothy before he starts his pastorship. When it comes to evil people and imposters, he is speaking of those who teach falsely. He speaks about two facets of these people. They not only deceive others with their heresies and false teachings but they themselves are deceived as well. This is why there will be so many people standing before Christ on the last day saying "Lord Lord." Their intentions were right. Their sincerity was right. None of that matters however when you entire doctrine is wrong. That is why I try to tell people who defend false teachers by declaring how much they love God that if they did, they would do as He commands. Instead, they have recreated a god they would rather serve. A god who needs them on many levels. A god who just gushes at the chance to bless them and gives them a good attaboy when they make "mistakes" (sins). This god for some reason seemingly does not care about matters of the kingdom and instead is infinitely concerned about trivial matters of carnal government and the politics of man. This is said as the backdrop to the latest article from Mattera, linked above. In it he takes a stab at ten things the global pandemic has revealed about the church. This seemed like a reasonable and worthwhile topic so let's reason together once more beloved.

"Since the beginning of 2020, the whole world has experienced an epochal challenge that has tried our souls. It has revealed character, motivation and maturity levels in the church and the world. Consequently, this should be a time of reflection and correction for us all. Since I am an ecclesial shepherd, In the following 10 points, I will narrow my focus on the church.

1. Many people in the prophetic lack biblical alignment. The inaccurate prophecies regarding both the outcome of the presidential election and post-election predictions have greatly troubled many of us in the charismatic church. It has caused a massive crisis of confidence related to the charismatic movement. For this reason, Michael Brown, several dozen leaders and I have crafted the prophetic standards statement. Biblically aligned prophetic ministry always allows others in the church to judge its words (1 Cor. 14:29, 1Thess. 5:19-22. )": - Joseph Mattera

His short introduction here is fine except for the promo spot where he refers to himself as an "ecclesial shepherd", which of course in not in the bible. The shepherd model set up by God in the bible is one where the under-shepherds, such as Mattera, would tend to the flock. Mattera fancies himself as a shepherd for churches. The problem for Mattera is that role is already filled by Jesus Christ. It seems all false beliefs can be traced back to the sin of Lucifer, desiring to be God. As for the first revelation about the church Mattera misses the mark on a serious subject. What this past two years have taught us is that those claiming the mantle of prophet have been revealed to be liars and false. It is not merely that they "lacked alignment." They LIED about hearing from God. Michael Brown spent four years exalting Donald Trump so he has zero credibility now after he has been exposed.

2. The leaven of Herod has infiltrated the church.

See my recent article on this here. - Joseph Mattera

The leaven Mattera speaks of in this secondary article is the mixing of politics and faith. He goes over several good points as I am sure he has seen them manifest in his churches. The problem is that he does this while stating in the article that while he believes in the separation of church and state he does not support that notion of separating God and state, which is of course at the heart of the NAR dominionist platform. So, while Mattera always scores points for understanding how insidious the leaven of Herod can be, he squanders those points by promoting the very same false doctrine only in a more cloaked manner.

"3. Much prayer won't necessarily change election outcomes. I am a great proponent of fasting and prayer for revival and national awakening. On the other hand, I also know that God judges the hearts and motivations of people when they pray (James 4:3). Alas, despite multiple thousands of conservative evangelicals rallying for days of fasting and prayer, they did not get the result they were looking for. My only conclusion is that much of the prayer was probably not in line with the will and heart of God. This is a prerequisite for Him to hear and answer (1 John 5:14). Perhaps our motives in prayer were related to avoiding persecution and retaining religious liberty (things the church in China, Iran, India and so forth) do not believe are essential for the church to thrive. Perhaps the prayers would have been better spent seeking the face of God to heal our land rather than striving for a particular candidate to be elected (2 Chron. 7:14)." - Joseph Mattera

Oh, it is so painful to watch someone dance around the truth and still not see it. Perhaps you should not have spent so much time praying for a singular candidate? Really? How about examining the person you tied your prayers to? Then examine how he was packaged and sold to the church as an almost messiah-esque figure. Donald Trump was the second coming of Elijah, remember? No wait, he had a Deborah mantle, right? He was offered to the church as somehow magically being saved, or maybe just a baby Christian, right? His braggadocious nonsense? Ignore it. His grabbing women by the genitals? In the past! Three marriages and three infidelities? Judge not! He is not running for pastor in chief after all! The Mattera's of the world cannot see that the issue was not merely praying in line with the heart of God but praying for something so unrighteous and yet swearing to all involved that it was God's cause. Perhaps God does not approve of the blood sport you support in your politics. Maybe your starting point that only people in your political party are righteous and everyone else can go to hell is not exactly God's way. Maybe being a shining city on a hill does not mean guessing the lesser of two evils and then pretending your selection is somehow not evil at all. The church did not vote as a way to avoid persecution of avoid losing religious liberty. It was mostly fueled by anger, hatred and resentment of the other side. Owning the libs is not a righteous cause however.

"4. The church must continually pivot for forward motion. The effective church must always be willing to adapt according to the times in which its people live. At the beginning of the pandemic, many of us had to work day and night for weeks to reinvent how we did church." - Joseph Mattera

Ahh Joseph, many more did not. Therein lies the real problem. If you truly used this time to grow and reinvent how the church serves people then God bless you but you are the outlier. What the pandemic revealed about the church is its seeming inability to adapt or change at all! So many churches were built upon the Purpose Driven Church model (PDC). This required pastors to hold court in person every Sunday for an hour and a half. That was how business was conducted. That was how revenue was generated. I expected the Rodney Howard Browne's of the world to spit in the eye of authority in order to open far earlier than they should have. This sin however was everywhere. John MacArthur fed his own sheep into the woodchipper for money too. His defense was so unbiblical you could have sworn someone else wrote it for him. Yet there he was doing interviews with NAR dominionist outlets like Charisma News. No Joseph. Most pastors did not work day and night to try and reinvent the church. Instead, they spent day and night figuring out how best to violate the law while still playing the victim card. They did not succeed.

"5. Only the remnant will persevere. The pandemic has caused most church attendance to drop between 25-50%. Consequently, those half-heartedly committed to Christ used the virus as an excuse to disconnect from church even after the lockdown was over. However, immediately after the lockdown, the faithful remnant church began to assemble again. Regarding those with COVID concerns for missing church, the test is whether they are still participating in the life of their church through Zoom, online services, and giving tithes and offerings." - Joseph Mattera

So much wrong in such a small paragraph. Those people Mattera refers to as half-heartedly committed to Christ we know as falsely converted. Every pastor always speaks like stepping into a church building miraculously saves you. It does not. It is not at all surprising the 50% of the church never went back because they were not saved to begin with. Combine with this the way the church behaves. People see the political wrangling and see that the church has whored herself out to one political party regardless. They saw in the pandemic pastors more concerned with tithes than with lives. They saw pastors lie from the pulpit and tell everyone it was safe to come back when it most certainly was not. By the way, the remaining 50% are not the remnant either. They are just the Kool-Aid drinkers of the apostate church. They are fully invested in dominionism and to them their church could do no wrong anyway.

6. The church is more than a building. The lockdown proved that a biblical congregation could not be defined merely by an edifice utilized for church services. The true church will always find a way to connect, shepherd the flock, conduct outreach to the community and love one another despite the lack of a central meeting place." - Joseph Mattera

Once again though, they didn't. I agree with the premise made but history does not bear this out at all. It took all of two months before pastors were clamoring to start services again. By Memorial Day in 2020 many were reopened, just two months after the onset of COVID. Pastors died. Sheep died. No one seemed to care. This pandemic gave pastors a real opportunity to provide more individualized care for their flock and serve their community even more. They failed miserably at both.

"7. Technology is essential for gospel expansion and church cohesion. With the advent of television in the early 20th century, the church missed a huge opportunity in owning and operating TV stations. (Many Christian fundamentalists believed TV was of the devil.) We have also missed the ship regarding other advances. The pandemic has proved to the church that we need to utilize the latest technologies to advance the gospel and relate the timeless message through changing methods. Unfortunately, many churches had to close because they did not provide online services starting in 2020." - Joseph Mattera

Agreed that the church has always lagged behind on technology. I remember when I was saved in 2002 that our church was still using an overhead projector for displaying worship lyrics! I would be cautious about Mattera's lament here regarding missing the boat on owning television stations. Many were owned and are still today by alleged Christians. All of them have proven to be wildly heretical. TBN and Daystar barely have a watchable show between them. It is the advent of modern satellite technology and ambitious false gospel "missionaries" that have led Africa to adopt the false prosperity gospel as much as they have. Today, five of the richest pastors in the world reside and hold court in Africa, to poorest continent. So, technology is important but not as important as our doctrine.

"8. The church is still divided along the lines of ethnic identity. The death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests revealed that many Black, brown and white believers had different perspectives even though they read the same Bible. (Although to be fair, a large percentage of people walking in solidarity with Blacks in the demonstrations were white.) In some cases, differences of opinion even divided churches and caused great polarity. This crisis revealed that the church still has a long way to go to fulfill our ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20). For more regarding this point, see my article here." - Joseph Mattera

Kudos to Mattera for trying to bring up this subject no matter how he botched it. The problem is that the modern evangelical church has chosen to align with one political party over the other. More so, they confer righteousness to their party even though they have done nothing to earn it. They have vilified the other party and reduced anyone who votes for it to evil. The problem is the party they have affiliated with is the party that is closely associated with white supremacist groups and routinely defend evil in this world at the expense of minorities. Mattera is right that the church has a long way to go but he just cannot see his role in furthering the divide.

"9. Many believers and churches are not biblically grounded. The tumultuous elections, the pandemic and civil unrest the past two years have revealed how biblically ignorant many in the church are. This ignorance was exacerbated by preachers that merely attempted to appease secular culture rather than preach biblical principles. A major indicator of vast biblical illiteracy in the church were the un-Christlike, vitriolic, political social media posts that believers wrote." - Joseph Mattera

While at first blush this sounds reasonable, realize Mattera is primarily speaking about believers who disagreed with him and his NAR beliefs. The "refusing to preach biblical principles" complaint is really about preachers who correctly refuse to sully their pulpits with the preaching of politics. This is not the appeasement of secular culture as much as it is preaching the gospel, period. As for this complaint - of course believers are not biblically grounded! Why would they be! Preachers no longer preach the uncompromised gospel of Jesus Christ. The prosperity gospel of Joel Osteen, the word faith gospel of Joyce Meyer, the sugar coated fantasies of Hillsong, are no more heretical than the NAR dominionist teachings of Joseph Mattera.

"10. Most churches are not making disciples. Jesus commanded us to make disciples, not merely new converts (Matt. 28:19). Churches that have focused only on gathering crowds instead of establishing Christians in the faith have been decimated during this lockdown season because they are now left with very few committed members." - Joseph Mattera

Agreed but remember doctrine is all that matters. If you are "making disciples" to follow your dominionist dreams then it be better for the kingdom if you failed. The PDC model does not encourage disciple making. When the pandemic sent everyone home the panic across the pulpits was not about how they were going to feed their sheep. It was about how they were going to collect their tithes.

"What can be the way forward? Here are some suggestions. Church leaders should regularly engage in dialogical communities with leaders of different perspectives, ethnicity, and demographics that can help expand their ability to relate the gospel to contemporary culture. Churches should focus on disciple-making, not just evangelism and drawing crowds. Pastors should consider utilizing expository teaching to educate congregations, not just preaching meant to excite, motivate and inspire the masses. A high-level discussion should ensue regarding how the church can preach biblical principles without adorning the gospel with a political party. The church should utilize entrepreneurial leaders with apostolic, prophetic and evangelistic grace upon their lives so that the gospel will adopt and advance despite the many societal challenges. Entrepreneurial leaders, such as those with the ministry gift of apostle, view every challenge as an opportunity. Above all, the church should always strive to be Christocentric in her character, behavior and message." - Joseph Mattera

Mattera talks a good game but he gives it away in the end. He can talk about not adorning the gospel with a political party but when it is election time? He will replace the gospel with a political party. The gospel does not have "societal challenges." It does not need "entrepreneurial leaders." It is so far beyond "Christocentric." Indeed, the true gospel has Christ at the center, the beginning and the end. Christ is the gospel and Romans teaches us that the gospel is the only thing that contains the very power of God unto the salvation of man. It does not need Joseph Mattera's carnal wisdom or my defense. It just needs to be preached. The pandemic did expose the local church quite a bit. It exposed the purpose driven lies that have been behind the apostate church growth for the past few decades. It revealed that churches did not understand their roles biblically. It forced many churches to run into the open arms of carnal politics as pastors showed they cared more about money than the health of their own sheep. God used the pandemic to expose all of this. Not just the Rodney Howard Browne's of the world but the John MacArthurs, Jack Hibbs and many more. I pray as we head back into the new normal that we were paying attention and that would start to leave these purpose driven charlatans and get back to seek God and His gospel alone. Amen.

Reverend Anthony Wade - February 28, 2021

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.